This photograph shows a World War II-era Bell Aircraft fighter of the Kingcobra/Airacobra family, easily recognized by its unusual mid-fuselage engine placement, long propeller drive shaft, tricycle landing gear, and car-style canopy doors. Armed with nose-mounted machine guns and a wing-root cannon, these fighters were valued for their firepower and ground-attack capability, and were widely supplied to Allied air forces, including the Soviet Union, under Lend-Lease. The national star-and-bar insignia on the wing places this photograph in the 1943-1945 period of American military aviation. Project: 218463